Apparatus for and method of assembling knockdown containers



mm 23, 1945. K P WELL 2,367,688

DOWN CONTAINERS APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF ASSEMBLING KNOCK- 2Sheets-Sheet 1 7 Filed March 2, 1942 INVENTOR.

- Jan. 23, 1945. K POWELL 1 2,367,688

APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF ASSEMBLING KNOCK-DOWN CONTAINERS Filed March2, 1942 .2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

22a a fle m yfl Rowe L 27 BY Patented Jan. 23, 1945 APPARATUS FOR ANDMETHOD OF ASSEM- BLING KNOCKDOWN CONTAINERS Henry K. Powell, Chicago,Ill., assignor to Morris .Paper Mills, Chicago, 111., a corporation ofIllinois Application March 2, 1942. Serial No. 432,924

Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus and method for use in the assemblingof knock-down containers of the types which are supplied to the users incollapsed or knocked-down condition and set up or assembled by them whendesired for use. p

The general object of the invention is the provision of such a methodwhich may be practiced with facility and a machine which is convenientlysmall and simple in construction and operation, which can be constructedat comparatively low cost, and which is accurate, positive and rapid inoperation so as to be capable of a large output per day and productiveof uniform results in the articles assembled in it.

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will bepointed out or indicated hereinafter or will be apparent from thefolloW-.

ing description of it or upon use of it.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification, I show one form inwhich the invention may be embodied, and serving to demonstrate,

one fashion in which the method may be performed, but it is to beunderstood that the particular embodiment shown and hereinafterdescribed is presented merely by way of illustration and is not to beconstrued in any fashion for limiting the appended claims short of thetrue and most comprehensive scope of the invention in the art.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevational section of the device,

the section being taken on a medial line;

Fig. 2 is a top view; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the lower endportion of a collapsible container body of a type which may be assembledin the particular apparatus shown;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view takenon line 4-4 of Fig. 2 throughthe upper part of the device showing parts in the positions which theythe lower portion oi a container after assembly in the device.

There are various types of packing containers which are made of flexiblesheet material and are supplied to the users in collapsed orknockedings.

down condition and designed to be set up or assembled by the user whenthe time comes for use of them for packaging the intended products. InFig. 3 is illustrated the lower portion of a collapsible body member ofsuch a knock-down container which may be made of paper board of suitableweight and stiffness. The particular container body here shown isadapted to be supplied to the user in flat collapsed condition and to beset up in approximately cylindrical form. It has a wall portion A whichmay be suitably creased to permit its being collapsed and to facilitateits taking a rounded form when properly set up, said wall portion havingformed at the lower end thereof a series of tongues or fingers B whichare flexible inwardly along fold creases C at their upper ends andfoldable upon themselves along transverse fold creases D. For providinga substantial bottom closure for the container body, there is provided afiat ring E (see Fig. 7) of size to fit within the body member when itis in approximately cylindrical form, and a fairly stiff bottom member Fwhich is of a size to fit tightly within the cylindrical body member vand form a tight bottom closure.

For setting up such a container and assembling the bottom closure withthe body, I have devised a procedure as hereinafter described, and forpracticing same I provide an apparatus such as is illustrated in theother figures of the draw- This apparatus includes a suitable standhaving leg members I0 which support a top frame member H formed with acentral plunger guide l2. A treadle lever I l fulcrumed on the stand atI5 is adapted to actuate a connecting link l6 which is attached to theshank I! of an actuating plunger I8 which is guided for upward anddownward reciprocation in the plunger guide I2. This actuating plungerhas its upper portion lBa of upwardly tapering or frusto-conical form.Sup- "ported upon the top frame member H is a plate I9 which carries anupwardly flaring annular member 20 disposed concentrically with theguide 12 and actuating plunger 18, and within the annular member 20 theupper surface of the plate '19 has a dished form as indicated at 2|,said dished surface portions converging toward a cen tral aperture inthe plate l9. Within this central aperture is mounted a hoop or sleeve22 which forms a guide for certain of the operating parts.

'The annular member 20, in its lower portion, is

of a diameter such as to receive the body member of the container with aclose fit when it is in its distended or cylindrical form and the radialwidth of the dished surface portion 21 is approximately the same as thelength of the body tongue portions between the fold creases C and D.

Guided concentrically in the hoop 22 and slidable upwardly anddownwardly therein is a rigid disk 24 having a central aperture ofsufficient diameter to accommodate the actuating plunger l8, and mountedon the plate 24 by means of bolts 25 is a plurality of complementarysegmental jaw members 26 (see Fig. 6) the mounting being such that theymay slide in radial directions inwardly and outwardly upon the plate 24,Radially extending guide blocks 2'! are supported on the bolts- 25 andproject outwardly beyond the margin of the plate 24 into guide slots 22aprovided in the hoop 22. The plate 24 and the parts carried thereby aremounted on the frame by mean of parallel posts 28 which are affixed tothe plate 24 at their upper ends and extend through openings in the topframe member I I. These posts carry stop collars 29 which are retainedon the posts and adjustable longitudinally thereon by means of nuts 30.When the plate 24"is in its lowerlnost position, which is illustrated inFig. 1, the upper ends of the stop collars 29' are spaced a distancebelow the top frame I l. I r r The segmental jaw members' 26 arenormally held in their innermost positions and in contact with oneanother by a helical spring 3| which embraces them and is retained in acircumferential groove formed in them, and at their inner sides the jawmembers 26 are formed with bearing surfaces 26a disposed in position forengagement by tapering surface portions I 8a of the actuating plunger.At their upper and outer portions the jaw members 26 are provided withoutwardly extending flanges 26?) which, in the normal or retractedpositions of the jaw members (illustrated in Fig. 1), are receivedwithin the upper portion of the hoop 22 so that their upper surfaces arein or slightly below the plane of the upper end of the hoop. I t I I Thearrangement is such' that when the treadle I4 is depressed; theconnecting link |6 will be thrust upwardly and the actuating plungermoved upwardly in the guide l2. Such movementof the actuating plunger,by virtue of the engagement of its upper end with thebearing surfaces26a of the jaws, will move the jaws and the plate 24 upwardly in thehoop 22 until the upper ends of the stop collars 29 are brought intoengagement with the top frame member II. This arresting of the upwardmovement of the stop collars 29 willoc cur at a time when the jawflanges 261) have been elevated a suitable distance above the upper endof the hoop 22, and the stopping of the stop collars 29 against theframe member II will arrest further upward movement of the plate 24 andjaw members 26 because of the fact thatfurther upward movement of theposts 28, to which the plate 24 is attached, will be arrested by nuts-30. This position of the parts is illustrated in Fig. 4. With jawmembers 26 thus held against further upward movement, continued upwardmovement of ac-' tuating plunger 18 will be effective to move the jawmembers outwardly on plate 24, such outward movement being induced bythe wedging of the tapering upper end of the actuating plunger be tweenthe bearing surface 26a of the jaw members, and said outward movement ofthe jaw menibers being thus effected against the constraining pressureof the encompassing spring 31. lnthis fashion the jaw members are movedto the position illustrated in Fig. 5, wherein their top flanges 261)are projected outwardly over the upper end of the hoop 22 at a distanceabove it" and the dished surface portion 2 l, as illustrated in Fig. 5.The limit of movement in this direction is reached when the treadle l4reaches its lowermost limit of movement. When pressure upon the treadleis released, the parts return to their normal positions by gravity andunder the pressure of the constraining spring 3|.

For setting up a container of the sort above described in accordancewith my method and by use of this apparatus, the collapsed body memberis first more or less drawn out into rounded form by hand, and its lowerend is inserted downwardly within the annular member 20, which receivesthe tongues readily because of its upwardly flaring form. The bodymember is thrust downwardly into the annular member 20, and the tongues,which are thus slid downwardly in engagement with the inner surface ofthe member 20,- are guided into engagement with the dished surfaceportion 2| and the lower portion of the body member is shaped intocylindrical form. With further downward movement of the body member, thetongues, by virtue of the guiding action of the dished surface portion2|, are flexed inwardly along their bend creases C and D, as illustratedin dotted lines at the left hand side of Fig. 1, so that when theunslotted lower end portion of the bod member reaches the upper surfaceof the plate [9, the tongues will have been flexed inwardly to positionsuch as illustrated in dotted lines in the right hand side of Fig. 1, inwhich position the end portions of the tongues beyond the fold creases Dwill extend over the upper surface of the jaw flanges 26b. The bodymember is retained in this position by the annular member 20 and whileso retained the fiat ring E is inserted-within the body member andpressed downwardly therein until it comes into contact with theunderlying tongues. While the body member is held in the device by hand,thetreadle is depressed toraise the jaw members to theposition-illustrated in Fig. 4, whereby the end portions of the tonguesare fixed upwardly and outwardly, as; to the positions illustrated at Bin Fig; 4. Then, as the treadle is further depressed and the jaw membersmoved outwardly, the flanges 26b swing the end portions of the tonguesoutwardly, as to the positions illustrated at B in Fig. 5. With thetongues held in this position by the flanges 2622, the tight fittingbottom disk F is pressed downwardly in the body member and against theoutwardly bent portions of the tongues, and thereupon, while the disk Fis pressed farther downwardly, depression on the treadle is released topermit retraction and downward movement of the jaw members while thedownward movement of the disk flexes the tongues outwardly anddownwardly into engagement with the upper surface of the ring E, as tothe relationship shown in Fig. '7. The tight fit of the disk F in thebody member ho'lds it securely in this position, in which it holds thetongues closely folded about the'ring member E, so thatthe entireassembly provides a strong and tight bottom closure for the body member.After being thus assembled, the container is with drawn upwardly fromthe annular member 21! and is in condition to receive its contents andits cover. I V

It will be observed that the annulus 20' together with the dishedsurface portion 2| constitute a body shaping member for guiding the bodypor tion of the container to the intended form and the tongues orconnecting flaps B to in-turned positions, and that the jaws 28-constitute flap by suitable modification of the forms of these membersthe device may be adapted for assembling containers of various othercross-sectional forms, such as triangular, rectangular, hexagonal,elliptical, etc., all of which is within the contemplated purpose of theinvention.

What I claim is:

1. A device for use in applying closures to container bodies havingflaps extending from their ends, comprising a body shaping member havinga portion for embracing a container body inserted endwise within it anda portion for guiding the end flaps to positions where they extendinwardly from the body walls, flap bending members movable axially andoutwardly relative to the shaping member within the area thereof, andmeans for moving said bending members axially relative to the bodyshaping member and outwardly and inwardly relative thereto.

2. A device for use in applying closures to container bodies havingflaps extending from their ends, comprising a body shaping member havinga portion for embracing a container body and a portion for guiding theend fiaps to positions where they extend inwardly in angularrelationship to the body walls, flap bending means associated with theshaping member in ,position for cooperation with portions of a containerbody therein, and means for moving the bending means axially within acontainer body seated in the shaping member and thence outwardly towardthe encompassing walls of the body.

-3. A device for assembling closures with container bodies having flapsextending from their ends, comprising a body shaping member having adownwardly converging wall portion for embracing the container body anda flap guiding portion extending inwardly from said wall portion inposition to deflect the body fiaps inwardly from the body wall, flapbending members movable axially and outwardly within a container bodyseated within the shaping member, means.

for moving the fiap bending members axially in the container body andthence outwardly to bend portions of the body flaps upwardly andoutwardly relative to said flap guiding portion, and means for returningthe flap bending members inwardly from their outer positions.

4. A device for assembling end closures with container bodies havingflaps extending from their ends, comprising a body shaping member havinga wall portion delineating the desired peripheral form of the containerbody and affording an upwardly flaring and upwardly opening passage intowhich the container body may be inserted endwise and a flap guidingsurface converging downwardly and inwardly relative to said wall, saidsurfacebeing of a width less than the length of the container bodyflaps, and flap bending members movable axially to an elevation abovethe lower terminus of said wall and thence outwardly to positionsoverhanging portions of said surface, and means for moving said fiapbending members axially relative to the flap guiding surface andoutwardly and inwardly relative thereto.

5. In a device for assembling end closures with container bodies havingflexible flaps extending from their ends, a body shaping member forretaining a container body in the desired peripheral form and havinginwardly extending flap supporting portions, a plurality ofcomplementary flap bending jaws disposed centrall of the body shapingmember, and means for moving said jaws in the axial direction into thebody shaping member and in radial directions outwardly therein.

6. A device as specified in'claim 5 and wherein said flap bending jawshave peripheral portions movable to positions over said flap supportingportions.

7. A device as specified in claim 5 and including means yieldablyconstraining said jaws toward a central axis.

8. A device as specified in claim 5 and wherein said jaws haveconvergent bearing surfaces and the actuating means comprises areciprocable plunger cooperating with said bearing surfaces to transmitupward and outward movements to said jaws.

9. A device as specified in claim 5 and wherein said jaws haveconvergent bearing surfaces and the actuating means comprises areciprocable plunger cooperatingwith said bearing surfaces to transmitupward and outward movements to said jaws, and means for limiting theextent of upward movement of said jaws.

10. A method of assembling an end closure with a collapsible containerbody having flexible flaps extending from its end, which comprisesshaping the body to its desired peripheral contour and bending its endflaps inwardly, placing a fiat ring upon portions of the flaps which areadjacent the body wall, bending inwardly projecting portions of theflaps upwardly and outwardly around the inner edge of the ring,inserting an end closure plate within the container body and intoengagement with the outwardly bent portions of the flaps and moving itinthe axial direction and thereby pressing the outwardly bent tongueportions into contact with the ring and the periphery of the plate intotight fitting engagement with the body wall.

HENRY K. POWELL.

